Ryan Counsell, 28, from Nottingham, is accused of travelling to the Philippines to join up with a terrorist group linked to ISIS

A supermarket worker accused of trying to join ISIS in the Philippines has claimed he was actually interested in the country because of a TV programme by Ben Fogle.

Ryan Counsell, 28, a white Muslim convert from Nottingham, had spent two years stockpiling military equipment for his trip with his wife and child, Woolwich Crown Court heard.

Counsell, who worked part-time behind the tills at a branch of Asda in his home city, had allegedly booked days off to travel to a remote part of the Philippines and join a group linked to ISIS, called Abu Sayyaf.

However, Counsell claimed his interest in the South-East Asian nation had been prompted by watching the series 'Lives in the Wild' by TV presenter Fogle, about an American man who had moved to the islands.

He told the court: 'It was about a man from America who wanted to find a life sustainable with his income, so he moved there.

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'That appealed to me because I want to live a life I can afford. I don't want to live outside my means and I wanted to live a simple life.'

Counsell claimed he had also considered other venues including Egypt, Somalia and Bosnia. But Somalia was rejected because his Somali-born wife considered it too dangerous.

The shop worker said he 'always planned to go there alone at first,' and did not discuss his plans for the Philippines with his wife.

That appealed to me because I want to live a life I can afford. I don't want to live outside my means and I wanted to live a simple life.

Ryan Counsell

He explained: 'My wife is very sceptical about the life I want to live.

'She believes in it in theory but she is not prepared to make any sacrifices. I wanted to research it in depth and present her with a more rounded view.'

Counsell told the jury that he thought he could get there and back without his wife noticing while she was visiting her mother and brothers in the Netherlands.

He said: 'The trip was short and I would have been able to keep in touch with her by Whatsapp.'

Counsell claimed that he had no plans to join Abu Sayyaf, and said: 'Since I was 18, I have been interested all terrorist movements, especially since I became a Muslim. I am very interested in Islamic terrorist movements.

'My interest is simply something I want to use in religious research and for journalistic purposes.'

Counsell was brought up in Sheffield and the family moved to Cleveleys near Blackpool when he was five.

He joined a band and left home when he was 18 to move to Nottingham where the rest of the bandmates were studying at university in Nottingham and Loughborough.

He described his interests as religion, conspiracy theories, history, and military equipment, along with 'wanting to live off-the-grid so to speak, living without connection to electricity or gas in a caravan or a tent.'

Counsell told Woolwich Crown Court (pictured) his interest in the South-East Asian country had been prompted by watching the series Lives in the Wild by the TV presenter Ben Fogle

His interest in religion began when he was eight years old and it was his favourite subject at school, he told the court.

Meanwhile his interest in military matters began when he was four, he said: 'My father introduced me to his collection of war movies, which I would watch day after day.'

However, he also liked music and he told the court that when he was 17 he played the guitar and was 'looking to join a band.'

He said: 'They weren't people I had known before. They were people I met off the internet. We played a few gigs and got paid, quite well in some cases.'

But when Counsell was 21, he dropped out of the group in order to get married.

He said: 'All I wanted was to live a peaceful life, off the grid, raise my own livestock and live a very simple life.

'My plan was just to get married, get a job and have a child, and from there progress to where I could live the life I wanted to live.'

Counsell's other interest, he said, was in 'security and forensic data recovery.'

He had a double A-level in ICT but added: 'I would argue for the most part, I am self-taught.'

At an earlier hearing, the trial had heard how Counsell had spend hundreds on combat uniform including boots, trousers and camouflage clothing.

Explaining these purchases, Counsell said. 'I have my own sense of fashion.

'I have struggled to wear jeans from a young age because I don't like how they feel. I normally wear cargo or combat trousers and since I was 16, I wear boots because I like how it feels under my heel.'

Counsell converted to Islam at the age of 21 in 2011, explaining: 'I was interested in Islam to the extent I would spend time researching about it and writing about it. I was always religious and always praying but I didn't associate myself with any religion until I came across Islam.'

Counsell worked part-time behind the tills at this branch of Asda in Nottingham

At first he hid it from his parents, explaining: 'I like to keep things to myself. I don't like to rub my religion in people's faces. I am a very quiet person.'

He said it did not change his life much, adding: 'All it did was enhance my life with other people.'

Counsell met his wife, Fatima, though a matchmaking service and they were married on May 19 2012.

He told the court: 'She wasn't someone I knew a great deal about before we got married. We interviewed each other and asked a few questions about marriage.'

Fatima was originally from Somalia and her parents lived in the Netherlands. She had two sisters in London and a married sister in Nottingham.

Counsell said: 'For me it was a good marriage without many arguments. It was a little bit unfulfilled because I expected different things from a relationship and she expected different things from a relationship. I put a lot of effort into it.'

He added: 'I wasn't pleased with the way she cleaned up and things, because I am a little obsessive. Ideally I wanted to stay at home and do these things and she would go to work.'

Counsell said he did not socialise much and preferred to company of women, adding: 'I used the marriage to fulfill that role of friendship.'

'I have always been a very obsessive person,' Counsell added. 'I have an obsessive personality. I have to collect things, I store things and struggle to throw things away.

I have an obsessive personality. I have to collect things, I store things and struggle to throw things away.

Ryan Counsell

'I was addicted to computer gaming, using the internet and aspects of hygiene and cooking.'

The only time he went out apart from going to work, he added, was to take his daughter to the park every day and he spent at least four hours a day on the internet.

The court heard how from the age of 18, he had been downloading material like military field manuals and three years ago he had started to collect Islamic material.

He said: 'I made it a personal mission to collect every PDF [computer file] book about Islam in the English language and I think I did a very good job of that.'

'I wanted to challenge myself to research.'

Counsell had studied on his own and been to Islamic classes where he studied with 'many scholars from abroad who have doctorates in Islamic studies.'

He said: 'I wanted to develop my own opinions and see how other people approached the religion.'

He had also studied Arabic at home, beginning before he converted, because he wanted to learn 'an international language spoken in a lot of places.'

Counsell denies preparing acts of terrorism by obtaining information about Islamic terrorist groups in the Philippines, arranging to travel to the Philippines to join and fight for an Islamic terrorist group, and purchasing equipment and clothing for use when having joined such a group.

Counsell also denies possession of electronic documents containing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.